Calling Calling Home
by Nekoyaz
Summary: After a solar flare, Alfred quickly finds himself all alone up in space. Communications down. Earth's going to hell. But even up here, he can still find a decent conversation about Baseball.
1. Chapter 1

"So did you catch the game?"

". . .Yeah. How much do I owe you?"

"50. CANADIAN. Dollars."

"Aw come on, Mattie. That's like way more!"

"Well if your boys could learn to play halfway decent. . ."

Alfred pouted as Matthew made a delayed gimme money gesture with his hands. The Skype delay was an agonizing 4 seconds. The International Space Station was currently on the other side of the globe. Two hours ago it'd been close enough for him to spot from his window in the Astro Charlie.

"Is that our little Fredka?"

"Shut your hole, Ivan."

"Poor Americans can't move fast enough on the ice. Hee hee! Too many burgers!"

"We'll get you in the Olympics!"

"Whatever helps you sleep, Fredka. Speaking of sleeping-"

"Maaaattie! Come back! Don't leave me alone with him!"

Matthew was floating away to the other end of the cabin. At the sound of his name, he grabbed the wall to halt himself and look back.

"Give me a minute, we're getting a call from Houston."

Alfred heard a noise from somewhere across the cabin. He left his tablet floating in air as he kicked off from the wall and glided to the other side. Once he pulled up the screen he could already see his boss about to have an aneurysm. The man's usually pristine slicked back hair had a single hair out of place. Hot damn. Some shit was going down.

"Yo."

"Don't answer that way! You're at work!"

"Chill, dude. What's going on?"

"I have some troubling news. We're picking up on a solar flare that we should be feeling the effects of momentarily."

"Okie dokie, I'll pull down all the blinds."

"This is serious, Jones. We expect communication and possibly other systems to be down for at the very least several hours, if not a day. The replacement team won't be able to launch for another two days at the minimum."

"Ugh."

Alfred was the only member of his 3-man team still left aboard the small privately owned space station. They'd had a "medical emergency" because stupid Gilbert didn't bring enough insulin so the other two members of his crew had had to make an unscheduled return. By draw of straws, his unlucky ass had been left behind to help with docking when the new crew arrived and to keep an eye on everything. If it hadn't been for the Internet and his fellow English speaking astronauts over at the ISS he would have died from boredom by now.

"I shall contact you again as soon as we are able. I expect a full damage report. Goodbye."

"Lovely."

Alfred somersaulted to his tablet to see Matthew back from his call with a serious face. Ivan was nowhere to be seen. Probably scrambling with the others to lock down all the experiments.

"So I'm guessing you got the same news I just did."

"About the flare? Yeah. It's due to hit in the next 15 minutes or so. Please take care of yourself."

"What am I going to do? Get a sunburn from the window? You two polar bears don't need to worry about me."

"Well, I have to go help. Call me back as soon as you can. Although, knowing how on top of things your company is, you'll probably be back on in 3 hours. We'll be the ones offline all day."

"Is that an insult against NASA I hear? Just because all this shit is German doesn't mean it's better.

"Bye, Alfred. Don't do anything stupid."

"Oh I will. See ya in a few, Matt."

Alfred cleaned some clutter from the air and made his way near a window to watch. He grabbed his sunglasses from his bunk. He probably wouldn't see anything since it was night where he was, but just in case. All he could see was darkness with flecks of lights like freckles on the planet. Could you even see a solar flare from this distance? He couldn't remember. Well this was boring. He pulled up Netflix to see if he could finish another episode of his current binge. He let the episode load first before he hit play. Maybe he could watch the whole episode without internet. No such luck. 10 minutes in and it stopped.

He looked up from his tablet and let go of it in surprise. His tablet floated away forgotten as he pressed his face to the port hole. All the little glowing specks had ceased. Darkness.

What did this mean? What did this mean?! Alfred felt his breath coming in short gasps. He couldn't breathe. Was the air gone?! Had systems failed?! Where was his suit?! Weren't there tanks of oxygen?! Was he dying?! The lights in the cabin were still on. The hums and clicks still ran. He was panicking. He had to calm down before he-

Alfred woke up with a groan and a headache. He'd fainted. Again. It was stupid. How much of a coward he was. If his boss knew, he'd lose his job. What was he even freaking out over anyways? He looked out the window but it was now daylight and everything seemed fine. How long had he been out? Had it been an hour or a whole day? Better try and see if communication was back.

Netflix wouldn't load so Internet was still down. No show and no Skyping. No Twitter either. His 52 fans would have to wait to hear how he'd fared the flare. Mom and Dad too. He tried all forms of communication including satellite phone. Nothing. He finally dusted off the Ham radio.

He tried different channels and codes for at least 30 minutes. Nothing. Not even Morse code. He was about to flip the switch to turn the radio off when he heard something being said quickly in another language.

"Hello?"

The speaking was fuzzy and unclear but it sounded as if it was responding to him. It wasn't a recording. At least he hoped not.

"Bonjour? Hola? Ni Hao?"

". . .Ni Hao?"

"Yes! Hello! I mean, Ni Hao!"

Undecipherable Chinese quickly followed. Maybe it was the Tiangong, China's space station. Alfred pressed Google Translate on his tablet before remembering no Internet. Damnit. He didn't think he even had an English Dictionary on here, let alone anything to help him.

"English? Anglais? Do you speak English?"

"Hai."

"Well hello."

"Small English."

It took Alfred a few moments to understand what the man had said. It was heavily accented. Didn't they teach their astronauts English so they could communicate with other space stations in case of emergency? Or was this guy on the ground somewhere with a super nice radio?

"Are you in a space station? Space?"

"Uchuu?"

"Huh?"

"Space."

"Yes. Space. I'm in space. Are you?"

"Hai. Yes."

"Tiangong?"

"Yes."

"Good! Can you speak with anyone?"

"You."

"Anyone else."

"You only."

Alfred didn't know what to say after that. The guy barely spoke any English but from what he could tell, he hadn't made contact with his base either. Guess it would be more of a day than the three hours projected.

"I am Mission Specialist Jones. Who are you?"

"Honda."

"Alright then. Honda. It seems like everything is still not working. I will contact you in again soon. Do you understand?"

"No."

"I will call back okay?"

"No go!"

"I'll call back soon okay? I just want to see if I can get anyone else."

"No one else."

AN: I know I know. I NEED to update my other stuff. But I heard Utada's new song Nijikan Dake No Vacance and It just inspired a space fic. I read like 1 wiki page for 2 minutes so expect inaccuracies abound.


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred woke from his nap to see the ceiling. He pushed off for the direction of the bathroom before grabbing something to eat. With just him he easily had enough supplies to last another few weeks. Not that he'd be alone that long. The replacement crew and supplies would be here in another two days. He checked his tablet. Still no internet. Alfred saw movement out the window and floated over to see. It was the ISS. Maybe the radio would reach!

He tested multiple frequencies he knew NASA typically used. Nothing but static. He flipped through a few additional stations in the same ranges. Static. Maybe Matt was right earlier. They were on the side of the sun when the flare happened. Maybe they took more damage. He watched out the window as Astro Charlie slowly moved past ISS. This was the closest point in their orbits. They only came this close to each other twice a day. He sent out a few messages in Morse code just in case they could hear him. He let them know he was fine and that he'd give Mattie his money once the Internet came back.

Tiangong was currently on the other side of the planet so no use trying to contact Honda. With nothing better to do, Alfred watched the planet below. He could see several Hurricanes forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Well it was El Nino. Hopefully despite all the issues people would still be warned. Alfred tried to contact his base again. It had been 12 hours since the flare. Once he reached the 48-hour mark with no contact, protocol required him to split the station and make an emergency landing on Earth. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. It would be a difficult job with just him. It usually required at least two people to land the craft.

Alfred watched the approaching darkness of night on Earth. He'd slept through the previous orbits. It was just as empty as earlier when he had his panic attack. No lights. He should be over Europe. Some of the largest cities in the world were here. Where were the lights? It was pure darkness. Not even a speck. He continued to watch with nothing better to do. He should be over the Middle East and parts of Asia now. Nothing. What did it mean?

In another 20 minutes or so, Alfred knew the Tiangong would be passing within 50 miles of him. So he floated back over to his radio and start flipping through stations. He said "Hello" a couple times on each station in case someone was listening. After about 10 minutes of this he heard a staticy response.

"Mission Specialist Jones!"

"Hello? Is this Honda?"

"Yes! Yes! Mission Specialist Jones, where go you?"

"I went to sleep and tried to contact the International Space Station. Did you speak with anyone?"

"I only speak to you."

"So your guys aren't up and running either. I haven't spoken to anyone but you either. How are you doing?"

"Speak to you."

"I mean, how do you feel?"

"Happy. Speak to you."

"I'm pretty happy to speak to you too! This is about when my mom calls every day. She's probably freaking out. What about your family?"

"Girl. Not sure word. Girl with same Mom. No Mom."

"Oh you have a sister?"

"Yes."

"Is she nice?"

"No."

"Haha! That's usually how it is. I have a sister too. She can punch pretty hard. Girl sure knows how to swing a baseball bat."

"Baseball!"

"Oh you like baseball?"

"Hai! Yes! Best sport."

"I have to agree. It's really cool. I used to play back in high school. I was first base and a pretty good batter. My sister is too."

"Yomiuri Giants best team!"

"Nope! Boston Red Sox!"

"Giants win to Sox."

"No. The Red Sox would win."

"Best in Japan. Best in Earth."

"Us Americans invented the sport. We'd win!"

"We shall see."

"So you're from Japan?"

". . .Yes."

"I didn't know they had Japanese astronauts on the Tiangong. Nice. Do you like Hockey?"

"No. What is that?"

"It's a really cool sport you play on ice. People get into fist fights during it. It's so much fun to watch."

"I see."

"How long has it been since you last spoke to someone besides me?"

"1 day."

"Did they even warn you about the flare?"

"What is that?"

This poor guy. He hadn't spoken to anyone probably since the regularly scheduled mission update. No wonder he'd sounded so panicked. Alfred wasn't sure how much the guy would understand but he tried the best he could to explain what was going on.

"No. Dead. All dead."

"It's just the equipment. They'll be back in a few hours."

"All dead."

The signal started getting fuzzy again. He was starting to orbit out of range.

"I'll radio back when I'm back in range in a few hours. Don't freak out okay."

"Mission Specialist Jones!"

"Call me Alfred."

"Alfred. No go-"

Alfred said goodbye and cut the transmission. It getting so garbled, he could barely understand Honda. It was hard enough with the accent. Alfred looked out over the expanse of the Pacific Ocean when he noticed a concentration of dark clouds. There wasn't an eye so it couldn't be a hurricane. The center of the cloud seemed to be about where Hawaii was. It took Alfred a few minutes to realize what he was seeing. The Volcano on the Big Island erupted. Well great. That's just what they needed. Hurricanes and Volcanoes. He desperately hoped this didn't interfere with the replacement crew. The Beilschmidt company was based in Germany but they also launched from the desert in California. He should try to see if he could get in contact with anyone.

Still nothing. It was just dead. No response of any kind. Alfred checked up on the experiments. It was a tedious job with just him doing it. The bunnies were doing pretty good but this generation of rats were pretty sickly. The plants seemed to be faring well. At least he hadn't managed to kill anything. He didn't bother with Arthur's experiments. He didn't feel like getting yelled at for fucking them up. He glanced out the window in time to see a flash. He looked closer to see a large cloud over what looked like the Southeast coast. His eyes registered the quickly expanding cloud. It reached high into the sky and shot out at the sides. A nuclear blast.

AN: The lack of reviews and follows makes me think my story must be crap. I already finished it all so you'll continue to be blessed with chapters until it's all posted.


	3. Chapter 3

Alfred finished his work and tried not to worry about what he'd just seen. He'd spoken with Honda a 3rd time and he could tell the guy was just as freaked out as he was. He could see a dark smoke cloud over Iceland like the one he'd seen over Hawaii. Another eruption. Damn. 20 hours with no contact. He was starting to keep his eyes open for a safe place to land. If he found a place, he'd let Honda know as well. So far the best places were looking like deep within mainland China and in upper Canada. He'd have to keep looking. With no contact, he couldn't confirm which places were safe.

He passed by the ISS for the 2nd time since the flare. Still no contact. No noise. Nothing. They should at least have ham radio. If there was anything damaged, they could send a guy out to fix it. There were 12 people currently on the ISS. They should be up and running by now. He watched it float by. He couldn't see anyone outside working on it or anything. They knew he was alone. They could have gone outside and signaled to him. Were Mattie and Ivan okay?

Once over Europe, he tried all forms of communication he had at his grasp. Nothing was working. They should be back up by now. He looked out. The super Volcano in Greece was erupting. Something was very very wrong. He felt his breath coming in gasps again. Not now. Not now. He had to stay leveled headed. He started counting backwards from 100 between gasps. He couldn't afford to pass out right now.

AN: I know this is a super short chapter but it's leading up to what happens next. And thanks for reviewing guys :D


	4. Chapter 4

He was nearing the 30-hour mark. He watched the ISS pass by again. It was Russian protocol to evacuate after 24 hours of no contact. All of the sections were still intact. They were all still on board. The planet below looked a mess but there were plenty of seemingly safe places to land. They should have ejected by now. Maybe they'd made contact and it was Alfred's equipment that was still malfunctioning. Perhaps he should physically signal them somehow.

He floated over to the control panel of one of the rockets. If he ignited one of them on the side of the ISS for a few seconds it should only adjust his orbit by a couple hundred feet. He waited until he was passing a panel of windows before he ignited the rocket. He couldn't do it for long. He had to conserve fuel for the trip home. There. They should at least know he was okay. They could signal down to base.

All he could do was wait now. He had a copy of the Great Gatsby on his tablet that came free with his pdf app. Not really his cup of tea, but it was something to do. After getting bored with it, he tried some of the arcade games that didn't require Internet on his tablet. He managed to waste an hour until he passed close to the Tiangong's orbit. His only solace from the fear and boredom. When he had time to worry. He had time to panic. He picked up the radio and was able to receive a "Hello" in only 5 minutes.

"Alfred! How are you?"

"The same as before. No contact. How about you?

"I am the same."

"Your English sounds a bit better."

Honda's thick hard to understand accent was still there but the sentence structure had greatly improved.

"I practice when you are away."

"You have an English book?"

"No, a program."

So his version of Google translate was actually working. Hmph.

"Have you seen the crazy stuff happening down there?"

"Yes. It is very sad. Not safe for us."

"So you've been thinking about going down to the planet too."

"No! It is not safe!"

"I've been looking for a safe place to land. If I find one, I'll let you know first. I wish there was a way we could combine resources."

"Do not go! It is not safe! All of them are dead."

"You can't know that. Besides, how long could we last without supplies? I think I have maybe 2 weeks' worth of food up here."

"I will help. I have food. Do not go."

"Then what. We'd die a few months later? I'd rather take my chances on Earth. If I can land somewhere safely, I can build things. I'm an engineer. If I can't land safely, at least it'll be a quick death."

"Please do not. Do not die. Do not make me alone."

Alfred felt guilty for what he said. Honda was just as scared as he was. Maybe more. He thought back to when he first couldn't find anyone on all broadcasts and frequencies. How scary it was to just hear nothing. To not know if there was anyone to hear you or even care. To feel like the last man on Earth. Or well above Earth. As scared as he was and as dire as things were getting. He couldn't leave his only connection alone in the darkness.

"I won't leave you alone. Whatever we do, we'll do it together."

AN: Thanks for the reviews again lol. I've always kind of passively followed the happenings of NASA. I'm friends and the child of Trekkies so I get a lot of exposure to space talk. I wikied some space stations in the works and kind of went from there. The Tiangong is actually real and means "Heavenly Palace" Which is kind of a big plot point. No spoilers lol. But the Astro Charlie is just Military/NASA language for Space 3 and based off of a privately owned space station that will be launched a few years from now.


	5. Chapter 5

The 48-hour mark was quickly approaching. Held to his word, Alfred stopped looking for a place to land. After watching a tsunami devastate the coast of China, he stopped looking at the planet at all. He only looked out of his window when he knew he'd be passing the ISS or a satellite. He still entertained the thought of somehow lassoing one over and using it to try and make contact with somebody. Anybody. If he had Honda with him, he could do it. He watched the ISS pass by, a dark dead looking husk. No movement. No changes since last time. He could only assume the worst. Seeing devastation and destruction had not caused him to shed a tear but knowing that he'd never get to Skype his friends again finally made it all sink in. They were dead. They were dead. There was no way they could still be alive in there and not have reached out to him. Even when he shot rockets at them, moved the outside dishes around, sent messages and signals to them, showed them in every way he knew how that he was there.

His only chance now was to cling to the only human voice he'd heard since the flare. He had his maps out now, trying to figure out how to adjust Astro Charlie's orbit just enough to bring him within orbit of the Tiangong and still conserve fuel. They might need it after all. Maybe after a couple of weeks, things would calm down and they'd be able to land. They could try to find survivors. It was something he could hope for at least. If he was going to try to board the Tiangong, he'd have to make sure his equipment was ready and in ship shape. The Beilschmidt company designed their crafts so that they'd be able to connect with other stations. In fact, the Astro Beta was currently a wing on the ISS. It might take more than one pass. He'd need to warn Honda so he could get things ready on his end.

He made the adjustments to put himself within a half mile of the station. The pass after this one would be close enough to board if everything worked out. He opened the radio broadcast when he was close enough to see the gleam of the Tiangong off in the distance. It took him less than a minute to pick up Honda. He explained his plan to Honda when he answered.

"No! Do not come near! They are dead. They are all dead."

"Are you alone, Honda? Is all your crew dead? Is that what you're saying?"

"They are dead. Please do not come here."

"What about you?"

"I am there no longer."

Alfred could see the Tiangong approaching and was taken aback by what he saw. He had to quickly adjust his trajectory to get away from the wreckage. The Tiangong was torn in half. It looked as if they'd tried to separate a wing of the station to evacuate and something had gone horribly wrong. Even from this distance, he could see the bright red of space suits floating among the wreckage. Bodies. Parts of the craft were stained ashy dark from blasts. All the fires were out meaning all the oxygen had been burned out of the ship. This had happened at least a day ago. If anyone had been able to close off a section of the station to hunker down, they would have died in the fires.

"Who the fuck is this! Where the fuck are you!"

"I am near."

Alfred felt a chill run up his spine. What if it was a ghost? Where space ghosts real?! Would creepy space ghosts try to kill him?! That was ridiculous. Was a soul even real? Did he even have time to sit here and do philosophy? No. There had to be a more logical explanation. Maybe just maybe, Honda was trapped in like a closet or something in a pocket of air. But how would he have a ham radio? And food? He kept saying he wasn't there but near? Maybe some kind of escape pod? Alfred searched for a vessel in the wreckage. He couldn't see a damn thing.

"I don't see you. How did you escape?"

"I was not there when they died."

"How far away are you? Can you see me?"

"Yes. I see you. Your eyes are the color of Earth"

"Can you come to me?"

"Yes."

AN: I've been having laptop issues. I ended up having to buy a new laptop during the Black Friday sales.


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